Asian population on the rise

With the recent rise in the Asian-American population around the state, the timing was right to talk about their place in the Bloomington community.\nThat was one of the many issues on the docket for the roundtable meeting on Asian and Asian American Affairs in Indiana on Thursday evening. The event was held at the Monroe County Public Library in honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. According to the latest statistics, the Asian population in Indiana may have nearly doubled to more than 72,000 during the past decade. Asians and Pacific Islanders make up 5.3 percent of the residents in Bloomington -- becoming the largest racial or ethnic minority.\nDespite the influx of diversity in Bloomington, many community members feel the mixture of ethnic cultures is not visible.\n"What frustrates me is that the cultural diversity is limited," said Daisy Rodriguez, a third-year Ph.D. student from San Diego. What Rodriguez doesn't see around town is what Aniko Bahr sees everyday.\n"I see different colors all the time," said Bahr, Director of the Office of Multicultural Education and Services for the Monroe County Community School Corporation. "I understand that when you walk out on the street, you don't see it that way." \nBahr's goal is to push English Second Language (ESL) programs into the curriculum of local schools. \n"The sooner you learn English, the sooner you feel comfortable in a new environment," Bahr said. \n"There needs to be the same effort to conform the general public," junior James Shaffer noted. "We need to help immigrants become contributing members of society."\nThe discussion took many turns and included many different ethnicities and backgrounds. Members in attendance hailed from Beirut to Seymour and from Hungary to Korea. More than two-dozen people talked about everything from the recent Abercrombie and Fitch T-shirt debates to what IU needs to do to increase student awareness.\n"Our challenge is to find ways to recruit faculty staff students to add to the diversity of the campus," said Richard McKaig, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and IU's Dean of Students. "We're more diverse than many Indiana institutions, (but) we're not as diverse as other Big Ten institutions."\nKwang Chul Park, a Ph.D. student at IU and a Deacon at the Korean United Methodist Church, feels there is still a divide in Bloomington. \n"We still see a barrier between mainstream Americans and Koreans, especially after Won-Joon Yoon," said Park, noting the 1999 murder in which Yoon was fatally shot on the steps of the church by Ben Smith, a former IU student. \nCurrently, plans are being crafted to create a community center in honor of Yoon and other Korean students in Bloomington. \nThat gap of Asian acceptance is what June Kiyomoto, Executive Director of the Indianapolis-based Asian American Alliance, wants to see decreased, especially in Central Indiana. Kiyomoto noted that there are nearly 20 different Central Indiana Asian American groups that are collaborating.\n"Getting people to buy into what we are trying to do is like pulling teeth," Kiyomoto said in reference to the lack of continuity between the organizations. "Asian-Americans are still fighting stereotypes every day"